Hudson had gone back and forth on what he wanted for his 4th birthday party. It was Chuck E Cheese, then a dinosaur party, then a gymnastics party, then he finally decided he wanted Extreme Animals to come to our house. I got it all booked, reserved our favorite cake lady, and ordered the invitations. He was more than excited and his party and had quite the countdown going!
The morning of his party was quite brutal. Matt and I were cleaning the house to get it ready and we just expected Hadley and Hudson to play. However, Hudson only asked us about 500 times if it was almost time for his party. Towards the end he got quite irritated and thought he couldn't wait any longer. Thankfully, Mama and Papa showed up and Papa helped to pass the time. He set a timer for 45 minutes on his phone and Hudson literally stared at the countdown until the buzzer went off!
We were all set up for the party and though it took a little convincing, I finally talked Hudson into a few pictures with his cake, his sister, and one family pic.
As soon as the animal keepers arrived they set the big tortoise outside for the kids to watch him walk around while she got all the other animals out. Hudson didn't want to get too close at first but warmed up a little bit and at least touched his back. The tortoise made himself at home and was soon burying himself in our flowerbeds.
The weather was pretty nice compared to the 95 degrees from the few days before but 85 still felt a little warm in the sun. So the kids gathered under our patio as the animal keeper pulled the animals out one by one to show and tell.
I really debated having her bring the boa constrictor. But she said the kids always LOVED it. Hudson, unfortunately, is terrified of snakes and jumped out of the chair to run to my arms as soon as he saw the tiniest sight of him. He was actually shaking and had real tears until she put him back in the Rubbermaid box he came out of .
Several other kids wanted nothing to do with the snake as well but we had a few that wanted their picture taken with him.
I have already forgotten the names of several of the rare animals but this was some sort of fox. He was just a baby but wont get much bigger. This animal got lots of "oohs and ahhs" out of the little girls.
And this was one of everyone's favorites...the otter. He did all sorts of tricks and wasn't scared at all.
Everyone wanted a picture with the parrot on their head:
All lined up for another favorite, the lemur. This little guy was so funny to watch and ran all over the place. He even tried to attack my camera strap when I took a picture of him.
And finally...my favorite, the kangaroo. He was a little baby and so cute. We learned lots of fun facts about the kangaroo such as: when they are born they are the size of a pea and if conditions arent favorable for delivery the momma can pause her pregnancy for however long she needs to. The adults seemed to find this more interesting than the kids.
While the kids lined up to take pictures sitting on the tortoise (that had dug a hole in our flowerbeds) the trainer let the kangaroo loose in our yard. I was just sure the thing was going to hop over our fence and make a run for it through the golf course.
Cake time! Hudson was a little shy for the birthday song but had no problem pulling it together to blow out his candles. The cake was so yummy with chocolate on top and vanilla on the bottom.
And finally, while some parents and kids ate cake the others watched Hudson open gifts. It was mass chaos and while I started trying to take pictures, I soon realized I was just going to be getting the back of all the kids heads and it would be more fun to just sit and watch.
Hudson had a great party. He was so excited about all of his friends that came and, of course, loved his presents as well! I am still in a little bit of shock that he is already 4 years old!
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